The Topi at Sunset Pendant
>>>SILVER•FAUNA<<<
The silver section of Eastern Winds, inspired by the fauna of the Savannah. You can't have an ode to Eastern Africa without showcasing the wildlife that makes the lands feel so full and rich. Excited to share with you these creatures less celebrated, but endlessly deserving! 🐅🌞✨
Turning my photographs from this trip into metal has been one of the most rewarding artistic collaborations of my interests. It's truly hard to put into words. But making these vignettes has been truly a pleasure <3
For this piece, I recreated one of my favorite images I captured across the whole trip; the silhouette of a Topi at sunset. It felt like the sky lit up just for me to experience this moment. I hand fabricated this scene in multiple layers of both sterling silver, and brass. The pendant itself is a solid thicker gauge sterling silver, with what I believe ended up being 4 more layers of sterling for the landscape and 4 more layers of brass for the sky. Texture throughout. A half round sterling vignette frame, and a bail stamped with pattern work that runs throughout the entirety of the collection. On the reverse, my makers mark, as well as another band with the same stamped detail work. It hangs on a sterling silver rope chain.
The pendant measures 1" wide and 1 5/8" tall.
It currently hangs on a 16" sterling silver rope chain, but can be switched out for an 18 or 20" chain at request.
It weighs .56 oz.
>>> The Eastern Winds Collection <<<
A three part, mixed metal collection, five years in the making. Inspired by a month I spent in August of 2017, with my mother, in Kenya and Tanzania. A huge trip we shared in both celebration and mourning. It was life changing. I came home and drew this collection, although initially much larger... but then my life changed again. Everything was put on hold. This collection (and the handful of copper pieces I made first) all were tabled in the corner of my studio ever since.
Now, after all these years of working on other aspects of my life, it finally became clear I was ready to finish what I started, and to clear those cobwebs from my memory, and cast these idea back into the wind.
The copper/vulture, the brass/sun, and silver/fauna sections, now a whole collection. Set with African Vulture feathers, Egyptian Geese feathers, life casted Wildebeest teeth, and sparkling Raw Tanzanian Sunstone, all found in the wilds of the Serengeti. Images created in metal from photographs I personally took. Inspired by textiles I've decorated my studio with. I'm so thrilled to release this deeply personal, cathartic, and now, only joy filled, collection with you all! 🐅🌞✨